


KIDD’S OWN JOURNAL. 
top. These, and many others, were—on the 
morrow, conveyed in a van to the railway- 
station, whilst we went in and upon the 
carriage. It was the same that Iso much 
admired the first time I entered it, on the 
day of my purchase. 
The regulations of a railway, as you are 
aware, forbid any persons taking a dog in 
the carriage with them; but my master 
being “a Directer,” this was soon arranged, 
and I was to be kept on Miss Emily’s knee. 
Here I lay as snug and as quiet as possible, 
until our arrival at the first station on the 
line; when a pinched-up, withered, and 
jewel-besprinkled piece of nondescript 
humanity, thrusting out her shrivelled neck, 
squeaked out for “the Guard,” and insisted 
on my being removed from the carriage. 
This, after some demur, was done; 
and I was (by railway law) crammed into a 
small wine-hamper, and locked up in a dark 
box by myself. Didn't I pray for that 
wretched old hag! 
Depend upon it I did not forget to cry, 
too; and poor dear Miss Emily sobbed to 
hear me. But what cared that heartless 
being how I cried, or how Miss Emily 
sobbed! No, she rather gloried in it; 
because Miss Emily was very pretty. These 
remnants of “the Flood” cannot endure 
pretty, harmless, innocent girls. 
You will perhaps wonder how I know 
this. Listen! One day during my confine- 
ment with the broken leg, two of these dried- 
up relics called at ‘Terrace, and, pending 
Mrs. Vandelour’s absence from the room 
(she had gone to procure for me the cus- 
tomary sweet-cake) they talked, not of me or 
my looks, but of Miss Emily and her beauty. 
All attention, I heard one of them say— 
“Pooh! I hate beautiful girls; they are 
never good for anything. I hope Major 
Broadsword wont make such a fool of him- 
self,” &c. Since then, I have never thought 
much of the opinion of such people ; because 
I really do love a pretty girl, and think that 
of all Nature’s handiwork there is nothing 
half so delightful, so unexceptionably com- 
panionable. 
But to return. After about one hour and 
a half of puffing, squeaking, and jolting, that 
appeared an age to me, we arrived at our 
destination; and I was released from the 
hamper, cramped and sore—then again 
did I nestle so nicely in Miss Emily’s arms, 
until our arrival at Mrs. Freshwater’s 
Sea-bathing Boarding-house, and Family 
Hotel! I will pass over the scenes of confu- 
sion attendant on unpacking and settling 
down; and jump to the next morning, 
which was beautifully fine. The air was 
elear and bracing, and I in the highest 
spirits. So, too, must all our party have 
been, for we were on the pier by 9 o'clock. 


237 
Here Mr. and Mrs. Vandelour, and Miss 
Emily, met lots of their acquaintance ; and 
I, several that I recognised as having come 
from the “Composition Live Stock Shop.” 
Among them was my little sister, but I was 
half afraid to speak to her; for although 
she pricked up her ears, I could not see the 
welcome that we always offer one another 
on meeting. I mean the wag of the tail. 
Tail! Where was her tail? What was her 
tail? Formerly a flowing cluster of waving 
hair, it was now nothing but a bristly 
stump; so short I could not see it wag! It 
had been cut to shorten the appearance of 
her body. “Cut” did I say? It was not 
cut ; it was betten off by a man who had money 
given to him for the operation. It was the 
same man who was, about a week after, 
committed for six months to the House of 
Correction for biting off his wife’s nose! 
The inference, I leaye you to draw. We 
live in an amiable age, —do we not ? 
There is a society, called “The Royal 
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to 
Animals,” consisting of (I have heard you 
say) a few choice spirits, whose words and 
actions agree ; and some others, who, under 
its cover, merely seek a sickly reputation for 
humanity, while they commit covert acts of 
the grossest cruelty,—swayed, no doubt, in 
some cases, by that all-powerful demon,— 
Fashion. Of this latter class were some of 
the gentlemen and ladies that I saw bring 
their favorites to the “ Dials,” to be 
fashionably mutilated; and to this class 
belonged my sister’s mistress. She was a 
large donor to, and an active member of, this 
‘excellent Society. Clever, too, and energetic 
was she, in prosecuting a poor man whose 
poverty was alone to blame for the accidental 
gall under the collar on his horse’s shoulder ; 
knowing that by the fine inflicted, she would 
perhaps deprive a wife and children of the 
necessaries of life. Yet did her easy con- 
science (!) let her pay this brute to commit 
the above wanton act of cannibalism! In 
this age of ‘Spirit Rappings,” are there 
none among the choice spirits of this noble 
Society that will rap out and prevent cruelty 
to our race, as well as to the horse? 
But I was speaking of my sister. We 
did recognise each other; and after a long 
conversation on the events that had taken 
place since we were parted, had a glorious 
run on the pier. Here, in turning sharp at 
the end, I had the misfortune to fall into 
the water. I sank and came up again ; tried 
to get on the top; splashed and kicked to 
no purpose. The current ran too swift for 
me, and formed an eddy round the pier that 
turned me round like a cork. I looked up, 
and cried for help; and there I saw Miss 
Emily shaking her handkerchief at me! A 
large white-capped wave came rolling towards 


